BashFAQ/045

Anchor(faq45)

How can I ensure that only one instance of a script is running at a time (mutual exclusion)?

We need some means of mutual exclusion. One easy way is to use a "lock": any number of processes can try to acquire the lock simultaneously, but only one of them will succeed.

How can we implement this using shell scripts? Some people suggest creating a lock file, and checking for its presence:

•  # locking example -- WRONG
  
   lockfile=/tmp/myscript.lock
   if [ -f "$lockfile" ]
   then                      # lock is already held
       echo >&2 "cannot acquire lock, giving up: $lockfile"
       exit 0
   else                      # nobody owns the lock
       > "$lockfile"         # create the file
       #...continue script
   fi

This example does not work, because there is a time window between checking and creating the file. Assume two processes are running the code at the same time. Both check if the lockfile exists, and both get the result that it does not exist. Now both processes assume they have acquired the lock -- a disaster waiting to happen. We need an atomic check-and-create operation, and fortunately there is one: mkdir, the command to create a directory:

•  # locking example -- CORRECT
  
   lockdir=/tmp/myscript.lock
   if mkdir "$lockdir"
   then    # directory did not exist, but was created successfully
       echo >&2 "successfully acquired lock: $lockdir"
       # continue script
   else
       echo >&2 "cannot acquire lock, giving up on $lockdir"
       exit 0
   fi

The advantage over using a lock file is, that even when two processes call mkdir at the same time, only one process can succeed at most. This atomicity of check-and-create is ensured at the operating system kernel level.

Note that we cannot use "mkdir -p" to automatically create missing path components: "mkdir -p" does not return an error if the directory exists already, but that's the feature we rely upon to ensure mutual exclusion.

Now let's spice up this example by automatically removing the lock when the script finishes:

•  lockdir=/tmp/myscript.lock
   if mkdir "$lockdir"
   then
       echo >&2 "successfully acquired lock"
   
       # Remove lockdir when the script finishes, or when it receives a signal
       trap 'rm -rf "$lockdir"' 0    # remove directory when script finishes
       trap "exit 2" 1 2 3 15        # terminate script when receiving signal
   
       # Optionally create temporary files in this directory, because
       # they will be removed automatically:
       tmpfile=$lockdir/filelist
   
   else
       echo >&2 "cannot acquire lock, giving up on $lockdir"
       exit 0
   fi

This example provides reliable mutual exclusion. There is still the disadvantage that a stale lock file could remain when the script is terminated with a signal not caught (or signal 9, SIGKILL), but it's a good step towards reliable mutual exclusion. An example that remedies this (contributed by Charles Duffy) follows:

• Are we sure this code's correct? There seems to be a discrepancy between the names LOCK_DEFAULT_NAME and DEFAULT_NAME; and it checks for processes in what looks to be a race condition; and it uses the Linux-specific /proc file system and the GNU-specific egrep -o to do so.... I don't trust it. It looks overly complex and fragile. And quite non-portable. -- GreyCat

   LOCK_DEFAULT_NAME=$0
   LOCK_HOSTNAME="$(hostname -f)"
   
   ## function to take the lock if free; will fail otherwise
   function grab-lock {
     local PROGRAMNAME="${1:-$DEFAULT_NAME}"
     local PID=${2:-$$}
     (
       umask 000;
       mkdir -p "/tmp/${PROGRAMNAME}-lock"
       mkdir "/tmp/${PROGRAMNAME}-lock/held" || return 1
       mkdir "/tmp/${PROGRAMNAME}-lock/held/${LOCK_HOSTNAME}--pid-${PID}" && return 0 || return 1
     ) 2>/dev/null
     return $?
   }
   
   ## function to nicely let go of the lock
   function release-lock {
     local PROGRAMNAME="${1:-$DEFAULT_NAME}"
     local PID=${2:-$$}
     (
       rmdir "/tmp/${PROGRAMNAME}-lock/held/${LOCK_HOSTNAME}--pid-${PID}" || true
       rmdir "/tmp/${PROGRAMNAME}-lock/held" && return 0 || return 1
     ) 2>/dev/null
     return $?
   }
   
   ## function to force anyone else off of the lock
   function break-lock {
     local PROGRAMNAME="${1:-$DEFAULT_NAME}"
     (
       [ -d "/tmp/${PROGRAMNAME}-lock/held" ] || return 0
       for DIR in "/tmp/${PROGRAMNAME}-lock/held/${LOCK_HOSTNAME}--pid-"* ; do
         OTHERPID="$(echo $DIR | egrep -o '[0-9]+$')"
         [ -d /proc/${OTHERPID} ] || rmdir $DIR
       done
       rmdir /tmp/${PROGRAMNAME}-lock/held && return 0 || return 1
     ) 2>/dev/null
     return $?
   }
   
   ## function to take the lock nicely, freeing it first if needed
   function get-lock {
     break-lock "$@" && grab-lock "$@"
   }

Instead of using mkdir we could also have used the program to create a symbolic link, ln -s.

For more discussion on these issues, see ProcessManagement.